Christine Schraner Burgener, state secretary for migration, at a press conference in 24 May 2024. (Keystone/Ti-Press/Pablo Gianinazzi)

🗳️Swiss diplomat Schraner Burgener bids for UN high commissioner for refugees. With Bern's support, Christine Schraner Burgener, former UN envoy for Myanmar and current head of the Swiss authority for migration, will compete against German diplomat Niels Annen for the role next year.

🌵Saudi-hosted UN summit fails to agree on how to tackle drought. African countries unsuccessfully pushed for a binding protocol on desertification, while western nations called for a more flexible agreement.

🛟Geo Barents leaves central Med, cites 'absurd laws'. MSF announced it would cease sea operations in the Mediterranean due to what the humanitarian group described as Italy's "senseless" laws. The search and rescue vessel has saved over 12,000 people from drowning since 2021, according to MSF.

🏔️Trump in Davos in January? What we know about the WEF's elite RSVPs. The World Economic Forum will only publish its guestlist a few days before the gathering from 20 to 24 January. But a few names have already been confirmed by media reports, including German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Argentine president Javier Milei.

🗓WTO fixes date for major meeting in Cameroon in early 2026. The ministerial meeting, held every two years, is slated for 26 to 29 March 2026.

🚺Fighters in Sudan's civil war raping girls as young as seven, Human Rights Watch says. Interviews with victims in South Kordofan confirm what UN investigators have documented about paramilitary forces committing widespread sexual violence.